A summer filled with potential…

This year… is looking to be a good year for movies. A friend of mine in the office, who I can comfortably geek out with about things like this, just sat with me and helped me come up with a list of films we absolutely MUST SEE this year. I’ve decided to provide that list of films here, each followed with a short explaination as to why I’m friggidy-freakin’ out about ‘em. Click the link for their trailers (if I can find one)!

I really like the director (300, Watchmen, Legend of the Guardians), and this is the first time he’s done a movie that isn’t based on a comic or children’s book. If you watched that trailer, you saw ninja schoolgirls fighting giant robots and samurai and dragons with swords and guns. The plot can be utterly retarded, and I’d still love it just because of that.

The Beaver stars Mel Gibson, directed by Jodie Foster, and Mel’s character is a depressed, probably a little crazy, married man who discovers a beaver puppet that helps him work through his problems. The script was apparently amazing, I love Mel (even if he is going nuts in real life), and this looks awesome.

Parts of the 3rd movie aside, Pirates of the Caribbean has been one of the most consistently good franchises since the first film came out. Plus, Ian McShane as Blackbeard? Heck yeah.

I saw the first Kung Fu Panda in theaters about 7 times. I don’t think that number is an exaggeration at all. In my mind, it was the first time that Dreamworks Animation produced something that was even slightly close to anything by Pixar in terms of quality, and I loved it. I’m hoping they can continue that.

The Hangover was a ridiculous romp that came out of nowhere and smashed you in the face with how fun it was. Nobody thought this movie was going to do anything close to what it did… and again, I want to see if they can make magic twice.

The last two entries in this series (X-Men 3 and Wolverine) both sucked. But with a new director, new direction, new cast of characters (mostly), excellent group of actors… I’ll give them another shot. (Even though I’ve never really been fond of the X-Men.)

I enjoy Ryan Reynolds as an actor. He does good work. I think he’d make a better Flash than Green Lantern, but we’ll see how this movie goes. I’m excited to see one of my favorite super heroes on screen, and I’ve heard good things about the plot.

Mr. Popper’s Penguins stars Jim Carrey as a guy who gets a penguin in the mail. Then he gets a second one, a female this time, to keep the first one company. They have babies. Now, Mr. Popper has many many penguins. This was a children’s book that I adored, and while I wouldn’t have thought “Jim Carrey” to play him, it is not a choice I’m upset with. Nostalgia dictates I see this film.

Easily the weakest addition to Pixar’s pantheon of stellarness, Cars mostly creeped me out (I’ll talk about why later). That said, it was still a good movie, just not, say, Finding Nemo-good. Or even Bugs Life-good. Definitely not Incredibles- or Toy Story-good… but not bad. It was a mere Triple as opposed to their usual Home Runs, and a triple is still something I’ll gladly pay to see.

Transformers has been like an abusive relationship. The first one didn’t rape my childhood as much as it… I dunno, made my childhood put on a bathing suit and run through the sprinklers. A little off, but nothing really wrong.

The second one sucked. The end.

They’ve said that they understand what they did wrong, and are trying to do better this time. And like a fool, I sort of believe them. If they hit me again, though… I’mma Lorena Bobbitt those monsters.

AAAAAHHHH! Oh, good gravy. I’ve been wanting to see this film since I was a child. I could never understand why it’s been so hard to do correctly, but I know the director can do old-timey settings (he did The Rocketeer for pete’s sake, which was amazing) and I have faith in the cast.

Iffy here. I’m unimpressed by the trailer, and the guy playing Conan used to be on Baywatch. That said, I love Conan. The stories (cause the entire franchise is based on a whole bunch of short stories that are awesome) blew my mind. So, again, I’m hoping this won’t suck.

After a few months of boring looking stuff, we have Hugh Jackman as a trainer to a boxing robot? What’s not to love?

Dec 16 - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol/Sherlock Holmes

TMTMBS Weekend Part IV (after another couple-month-long dry spell)!

I want Tom Cruise to not be crazy anymore. I want him to get on screen and look like he’s having fun, like he did with Risky Business, Top Gun, Jerry McGuire. He’s a good actor. Also, again, there’s a good director, and hey! Simon Pegg is in it! Yay!

The first Sherlock Holmes was excellent, love the director, love the actors… another hoping-for-lightning-in-a-bottle situation.

So! There you go. That was a long one, and I hope we get at least a few gems out of that.